Mother Knows Best
by Trelevona
Summary: Mother Gothel defends herself by writing a letter about her treatment of Rapunzel. Oneshot.


Disclaimer:

I do not own Tangled or any characters associated with it.

Edited:

Thank you to the guest who reviewed and notified me about the coding within the story!

To Whomever It May Concern,

Perhaps I appeared as a villain, but think of this from my point of view. I've been making the long trip to where the magical flower- my flower- was for years, decades, maybe even a century now. Being a healer, I had learned how to preserve myself. Recently, I had gotten a request from the king to save his wife. We had agreed I would heal her with the magical flower and receive a reward. But when I went there, the kings own soldiers had come and stolen my flower! I had hoped maybe they would just transplant it, or breed it and then put my beautiful flower back where it belonged. But no, they took it to the castle and cut it up to be made into the potion! I had not told them to do this! No one would ever be able to use my flower again! As you can imagine, I was quite distressed by this. How dare they take my flower!

Perhaps I was a bit rash. But I was promised a reward and it was not given to me. The king had said if I would only save his wife I could take the infant and raise her as my own. At first I told him I would settle for a lock of the child's hair- my flower's magic was in her now you see. Maybe I could use it to grow the flower again so I could go back to my quiet life in the forest, but as soon as I cut it, the hair turned brown! So, I took her as my own. After all, her father had offered me anything. She, and the queen, had depended on the flower as much as I did. I knew then that I would be able to teach her the secrets my mother taught me. Now she had depended on the flower for life as well, besides, she was better off that way. It was for her own good that I took the king up on his offer. She would have wasted away in the castle, probably guarded by a dragon, if not for me. You know how royals love to guard their treasures. The poor thing would die from helping people once her magic was discovered. So I took her to my tower where no one would ever find us, where we would be safe from the prying eyes of the castle servants and she could learn the secrets passed down mother to daughter for generations.

I did grow to love the little thing. I raised her as my own child, my daughter that otherwise I'd never have. She loved me too, what do you think I thought when I returned from my journey with a very special gift for my lovely only to find her gone? I thought for sure whoever had taken her- she was too meek to leave on her own- would exploit her magic. And I was right! When I found my darling Rapunzel, that criminal was asking how her hair- her magic- worked! When I tried to convince my angel to come home with me, she told me off! She told me, "No!" Can you believe it? She had fallen in love with criminal and wanted to go with him!  
So what did you expect me to do? I found the criminals old comrades, whom he had cheated and persuaded them to help me. I told them they could do whatever they wished with that man; I only wanted my daughter back. When they heard I knew where "Flynn Rider" was, the blundering oafs practically fell over themselves to help me! When my poor dear saw he love had betrayed her, she came back with me quite willingly. But, once in the tower, she saw her paintings. She realized she had unconsciously painted the kingdom's crest over and over again! My clever girl had seen too much in the town square, for now my darling knew she was the lost princess that everyone was speaking of. The king soon grew weary of his promise I found. I realized then that we had to go. The village would no longer trust me as their healer so we would starve. We were about to slip out the door, but then the criminal came. That dreadful horse had gotten him out of prison! When Rapunzel saw that he was fatally injured, she was ready to come quietly if I would first let her heal him. I agreed of course, I was relieved we'd be able to go, but then the oaf cut her hair off! How was I to live now? How was the magic of healing to live on? I could feel the magic leaving me and soon I knew I'd be gone. I used my last bit of magic to write this letter so that nothing this tragic ever happens again. Though my wrong will never be righted, my flower is gone forever. She was transplanted when she realized she was the princess. She is not my flower anymore, she then lost her desire to learn my trade. I can only hope someone finds this letter and learns a lesson. Life is very precious, magic even more so, and mine was meant to be longer so I could pass on my secrets. I never truly got my flower back, she was taken away from me again and I was painted as a common villain. Pay attention my dears, hear your lesson. Mother knows best.

A/N:

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